Ein Prosit

I made to Munich! First observation there are lots of cyclists and it is very clean. It is very interesting that most of the cities I have visited use cycling as the main mode of transportation. Maybe the US should adopt this trend. It is a much greener approach. Although, I think that would require everyone to go back to driving school. I think one of the main reason I don't ride a bike everywhere is because I don't trust drivers. Europe has very strict driving requirements before one can obtain a license. One of my friends in London said, they are not even allowed to roll back one inch in a manual vehicle when coming off a stop or they fail the driving test, wow! One might say to me, you have always lived in big cities...Yes, this is true and big cities typically have more congestion and smog/pollution. Plus after visiting Paris, I am convinced that the US could adopt the cycling trend. They have tons of people, cars, cyclists, and seems to have figured out how to co-exist.

Munich seemed to have an even better solution for cyclists. To reduce the number of accidents lets get them off the street. Brilliant! All the walking paths have a side for cyclists and another for pedestrians. If you are walking on the wrong side you will realize it very quickly because you hear a bell and if you don't move you will get hit. I moved in time but there was increased heart rate and jumping involved.

After almost a month of traveling I needed a workout myself. So I tried Anusara Yoga in German. It was interesting not knowing what the teacher was saying. It is amazing how much verbal cuing helps in yoga. When you use visual cuing I think it takes away from the mind body relaxation connection. To constantly have to watch the person in front or around you puts you just a couple seconds behind so you always feel like you are rushing through the poses. Ultimately the class served it's purpose, which was to loosen up and get some blood pumping. In the end, I felt better!

Outside of yoga, I decided to take a walk in the English Garden. It is a huge park which stretches alongside the river Isar. The park is the largest city park in Europe and larger than New York's Central Park. It was beautiful! I also had the pleasure of observing the coolest thing ever. Surfing in a river! If you had told me that people surfed in a river in Munich I wouldn't have believed it. Well seeing is believing. Check out this video.